CBGB, one of the most famed venues in music history — proving ground for artists like Talking Heads, Patti Smith, and the Ramones — closed in 2006. Now, it’s set to reopen — but no, not in its original Bowry location. Also, not as a music venue. CBGB — renamed the CBGB L.A.B. (Lounge And Bar) — will…

According to sources considered reliable by Billboard, Beatles fans are about to get a massive Christmas gift: the Fab Four’s catalog will reportedly debut on streaming services this week. There’s been no official confirmation, but Billboard reports that users of “most, if not all” streaming services will be able to start playing the Beatles’ music this week.…

I always hold off until Dec. 1, but this year, I found, when December arrived I was ready to dive all-in with Christmas music. As soon as the calendar turned, I found myself craving holiday music — and not just vaguely merry indie rock, but the real ruddy-cheeked classics. Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Conniff. I…

When we talk about music being local, should that even matter? Is it possible to be a band from nowhere? Is the guy that plays a bucket poorly with one drumstick a local band? It’s all quite absurd, this labeling of music. Music does not label itself. Music can only be music. Is it better…

Vaski is one of the biggest dance music artists to ever come out of Minnesota; he’ll be playing a hometown “holiday blowout” on Saturday night at First Avenue. We asked Vaski to share ten must-hear tracks from across the recent history of dance music — including some of his own. “I skipped over a lot…

Eagles of Death Metal have announced a “Play it Forward” campaign to raise funds for charity in the wake of last month’s horrific terrorist attacks in Paris — which included an attack on the venue Le Bataclan during a performance by Eagles of Death Metal. Recently, the band announced that their publishing royalties from covers of…

Tickets for Adele‘s two Xcel Energy Center shows went on sale to the public Thursday morning, and sold out as quickly as fans could scoop them up. Arena staff told the Star Tribune that they’d never seen such demand for any shows, ever. The melee now moves to ticket reselling (a practice that’s legal in Minnesota), where ticket…

Michael Jackson‘s epochal album Thriller has become the first album ever to sell 30 million copies in the United States. The landmark inspired Epic Records CEO L.A. Reid to declare Jackson the “biggest artist of all time.” (Rolling Stone) The album is claimed to have sold 100 million copies worldwide, twice the amount of its nearest competitor, AC/DC‘s Back in Black. Another…

Back when I was just getting into following the local music scene and realizing that there are musicians here in my own city that I could go out and see, and who I could buy CDs from directly out of suitcases at their merch tables, I came across Dan Israel’s breakout album, Dan Who? After…

Lil Bub has a hit album: Science & Magic: A Guide to the Universe is at number two on Billboard’s dance/electronic albums chart. As Billboard notes, Bub isn’t the first cat to chart: the Jingle Cats had two Billboard 200 albums in the ’90s, and of course MC Skat Kat (voiced by The Current’s own Derrick “Delite” Stevens) had…